What’s the hype around NFTs? A beginner’s guide on NFT
You may be hearing stories of school children becoming millionaires benefitting from the NFTs. Many such fascinating stories are emerging on the internet. Like anything that suddenly surges to high popularity, NFTs too carry a concern. We’ll explore all aspects of what is NFT art and what does NFT mean in this article.
What does NFT mean?
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are unique digital assets. The assets are provably unique and the NFTs represent items that are both tangible or intangible.
NFTs contain identifying information, it is recorded in smart contracts.
The information recorded makes each NFT unique. One cannot be directly replaced by another token. One also cannot be swapped for another. No two NFTs are alike.
They’re not like banknotes, which can be easily exchanged one for another with the same value.
To be clear, let’s also consider an example of Bitcoin. It is also a fungible token. You can send bitcoin, and receive one back. You’ll still end up having one single coin. The value of the coin may change during the transaction, but the unit of the coin remains the same.
Fungible tokens can be divided. As a dollar is made up of many cents, Bitcoin can also be measured in small amounts called Satoshis.
Coming back to NFTs. They are not divisible. They can be compared to an analogy of tickets, you can’t send someone a ticket to a movie theatre in parts. A part of a ticket is not worth anything, it also cannot be redeemed.
Investors are experimenting with the concept of fractionalized NFTs. But still, the attempt remains in a legal grey area.
Some of the first NFTs were the collectables of CryptoKitties. They were blockchain-based digital kittens. Each kitten is unique. The CryptoKitty you send might not be the same you receive. The fun point of the game is collecting different looking digital kittens.
The unique information of an NFT, as for something like CryptoKitty, is stored in a smart contract. It is immutably recorded on the token’s blockchain.
NFTs have very unique attributes. They are usually linked to a specific asset. They can be used to prove the ownership of digital items or physical items.
What is NFT art?
NFT talk has got many on the internet hooked on it. There is also a very selective buzz about NFT art. The curiosity and excitement surrounding it have indicated a revolution in the creative industry.
An NFT can be any digital file. It can be an artwork, an article, a piece of music or could even be a meme. In this segment, we’re interested in knowing how this digital phenomenon impacts the creative industry and artists.
Ownership of Digital Art
Digital ownership was an alien concept before Cryptocurrency gained traction online. We didn’t think twice about ownership when we randomly passed and shared videos, images and graphics. Reposting them was a casual response to our instinct.
But now there is an opportunity to assume complete and concrete ownership of a digital file. The rise of NFTs will allow creators to exercise authority to rent, sell, or display their digital artwork.
Designers need to get a kind of validation or a form of legal ownership of their work. When an NFT art is created, it’s minted. It is tokenized on the blockchain, a cryptocurrency service.
Blockchain is an advanced digital transaction system that securely records information with very little scope for hacking or scamming. This makes it highly useful in tracking copyright ownership and maintaining records of creation. This ensures any piece of digital art you create and mint will solely lead to you.
Income generation through Digital Art
NFT art is a novel way of categorizing digital art and enabling creators to monetize their work. The process is quicker and it is easily accessible for artists to produce creative pieces and gain rewards for their creativity. You can avoid chasing clients for payment, you don’t have to prepare files for print. There is no waiting for the client’s feedback or no need for frequent edits to suit the client’s needs.
For NFT arts, royalties remain with the artists. Every time the artwork is sold, the artist receives a certain percentage of the sale. This also depends on the platform the artist is using.
Previously the art collection and selling was exclusively an illustrious world. It was generally a posh affair carried out in exquisite physical spaces, with a physical display of artworks.
NFT trading has moved the art collection and sale online. On a global scale, artists can display their creations and monetize them. For a freelance artist, forming a solid network and identifying loyal high paying clients is a slow, staggering process. NFT can generate good income for such artists, it provides an opportunity for them to openly exhibit their work and demand a price.
NFT holds the potential to change the face of the creative industry. It certainly will evolve into a different form and future generations will perceive it in different ways. The world of NFT art is yet to take the shape of a reliable and inclusive environment for artists, but it is taking a step in the right direction of creating a digitally evolved space for creative artists.
